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I've had the Nokian NRW, in 195/60HR15, on my '87 9000T for about five or six weeks now. This past weekend was the first time I took them in the ice and snow.
First off, let me start by saying that in terms of bare road handling, I found a huge difference between using the pressure Discount Tire uses (35-36 psi) and what the sun visor recommends, 30 psi. I actually used 31 psi, but figure that's within the error on my cheapo gauge. At 35 psi, the tires definitely felt a little darty, that is to say not very directionally stable, especially at freeway speeds. Once you got into a steady corner, they felt solid, but going straight... Also, the ride seemed just as hard as my Kumho Ecsta 711 summer only tires, which are shorter in 205/55VR15. I haven't found any reason to want to go back to 35 psi. The NRW's now handle on bare roads quite admirably, very stable in all conditions and not squirmy. Sure, maximum cornering grip isn't up to a summer high performance tire, nor is acceleration grip, but they don't squeal in protest, and the limit is very predictable.
On wet roads, the traction is excellent. Hydroplaning resistance is somewhat less than I was expecting, but still better than my last two sets of tires. It's certainly still above average and perfectly adequate even for Western Washington.
As for the snow and ice performance, I really am amazed. Near as I can tell, this is Nokians WORST snow/ice tire, and in fact in some places it's not even called a snow tire, just an 'All-Weather' tire, though it does carry the snowflake on the mountain symbol on the sidewall. Now, acceleration traction isn't as good as studded snow tires, which I certainly was expecting. However, it's far from poor, in fact quite good. On solid packed ice/snow, I was able to stop on small inclines and get going again without problem. Going straight on the same surfaces, the car felt just as solid as going down a bare road. I had no problem with turns on snow/ice as long as I kept it at the speed limit. What I found most impressive, however, was the braking. I was able to stop at a rate I would normally use on a dry road, without locking up the wheels, thus no loss of control. Even better, I found that if I stomped on the brake hard enough to lock up the wheels, the car slid straight forward and had no tendency to get out of control. It didn't slow down faster by locking up, though, so no reason to do that. On an ABS car, these tires would probably be even better - though I've never driven an ABS car in snow, so don't take my word for that..
In the past, I've never driven on a snow tire that I thought had good enough dry handling to actually use the rest of the year. These ones are damn close. Yes, they don't have enough grip for 200 HP and 240 lb/ft of torque to the ground, but in terms of handling, I could actually live with it. It really only gives up some steering response and road feel to my Kumhos, discounting total grip of course.
I looked at other options, Michelin Arctic Alpins or Dunlop Graspic or something. Some were cheaper, some were more expensive. All the higher than T rated snow tires are tire rack were unavailable in a 15" size, at least when I checked last month, and I didn't want to go 16". I'm quite happy with the Nokians so far, what remains to be seen in how long they will last. According to Nokian (why has nobody in this country actually done an objective review on these things??), they should last a LONG time!
Aaron Gilbert
1987 9000T 270k miles
posted by 206.191.13...
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